Djokovic beats Pella to reach 3rd round at French
Serbia's Nonak Djokovic returns the ball to Argentina's Guido Pella during their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium Thursday, May 30, 2013 in Paris. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Djokovic beats Pella to reach 3rd round at French
Serbia's Nonak Djokovic returns the ball to Argentina's Guido Pella during their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium Thursday, May 30, 2013 in Paris. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Djokovic beats Pella to reach 3rd round at French
Argentina's Guido Pella returns the ball to Serbia's Nonak Djokovic during their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium Thursday, May 30, 2013 in Paris. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Posted: Thursday, May 30, 2013 5:04 pm
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Updated: 10:04 pm, Sat Jun 1, 2013.
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Top-ranked Novak Djokovic easily beat Argentina's Guido Pella 6-2, 6-0, 6-2 at the French Open on Thursday to set up a third-round match against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Djokovic has won every Grand Slam title except the French Open and has made this year's tournament a priority.
The Serb lost last year's rain-interrupted final at Roland Garros to Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
Dimitrov beat him in the second round of the Madrid Open, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-3. He also won a set against Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters last month.
The 26th-seeded Dimitrov beat Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-1 to get another chance against Djokovic.
The Serb is looking forward to the rematch.
"I think he's got more confident as he's getting big wins in the last few months, and so he's a tough player now to beat," Djokovic said. "Even though maybe his style of game could be better on the hard court or faster surfaces, he's showing that he can play equally well on clay.
"It's going to be very physical. All the hard work that I put into preparations for this tournament hopefully will play to my advantage and will pay off on the court."
Thursday's match on center court was delayed and interrupted by afternoon rain.
"It's like deja vu from two days ago, you know, coming in and out and warming up five times, but it is the way it is," Djokovic said. "I'm just glad that I finished the match today."
The rain delays had little effect, though, as he handled the 83rd-ranked Pella in 1 hour, 26 minutes.
He had 30 winners, broke Pella's serve six times and did not face a break point on his serve, clinching victory on his third match point when Pella double-faulted.
"(It) was the most difficult match I ever played ... I think I have bad luck in some games that I serve, but I think I did my best. He's the best now," Pella said. "I tried to make long points, but he's really used to play like this."
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Thursday, May 30, 2013 5:04 pm.
Updated: 10:04 pm.
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